Digimon Adventure: The Dark Archers
by WhoisJohnGalt
Summary: A few years after the conclusion of 02, everything is peaceful. It looks like there is going to be another boring year of school, until one day when it all changes.
1. Chapter 1

So... My first story... All the names and info are taken from the English dub. The school system is American. It takes place a few years after 02 and follows the 02 characters.

Tai, Matt, and Sora are 19. Izzy and Mimi are 18. Joe is 20. They're all going away to college, so they won't be seen too often in the story. All the younger digidestined are 16 and going to be juniors in high school except for Cody; he's 14 and a freshman. Ken and Davis are on the soccer team. TK is on the basketball team.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

TK was sitting with his back against the old tree in the park. It was nearly noon. The sun was brightly shining, warming the grass. He was thankful for the shade. Underneath the tree was perfect. There were no worries or troubles under the tree, just relaxation, just rest. He closed his eyes and waited.

His eyes opened slowly. He looked up to see Kari had just arrived and awoken him. "Hey Kar, what's up?" he asked while yawning.

"Hi," replied the shorter brunette. "Tai officially left for school today. That's why I'm late," she said taking a seat beside TK "Seems like you were fine without me though," she joked with the tall, blond boy next to her.

He yawned again before replying, "So with Tai gone that's all of them, right?" He paused to think for a second before continuing, "Matt and Joe left last week. Sora went yesterday, and Izzy's been gone for a few days."

"Yeah," Kari sighed. "We're going back to school tomorrow, too." TK groaned jokingly, obviously he did not want to remember that date. "Fine, I won't remind you anymore," Kari laughed. After a slight pause, she suggested "Let's try to get everyone else back together today before... well... the evil thing happens."

TK, finally awake, laughed at her way of delicately putting it. "Davis and Ken have soccer practice today. Yolei is working at her store, so she's busy. Cody is getting back from vacation in a few hours. I doubt he'd want to do anything today."

"We're really boring TK. Everybody is out there doing something, but we're just sitting here," Kari complained as she yawned with her back against the tree.

"I like this, Kar. No problems, no worries, no stress, just sitting down and enjoying the park," he knew she would fold. She loved this as much as he did even if she would not admit it. She loved being lazy just as much as he did.

"I guess you're right. You know this is my favorite spot, but c'mon it's the last day of summer; we could do something." Anticipating what he was going to say, she added, "I know. I know. Everyone's busy. I just wanted to do something big before the end of summer."

The two sat under the big tree talking. They chatted about everything that crossed their minds: their summers, their friends, their digimon, the "evil thing" that TK refused to name. They joked around and laughed. During the conversation, Kari watched whoever passed by the tree. She liked to observe people; it was possible to see the weirdest things just by watching people. For a day of doing absolutely nothing, it was nice. She wanted it to be more, but it was not. It was relaxing; it was nice. It was not the memorable party she wanted, but she liked it. At sunset, TK and Kari decided they did not have much more to discuss. They both went home in their own directions with nothing better to do than wait for school.

* * *

Davis groaned at the first beeps of the alarm clock. He refused to acknowledge that this day had come. He did not throw his pillow at the clock. He did not try to stop it. He did not constantly complain about waking up like he normally would. After the first groan of waking up, he decided not to recognize this day any further; he turned around, put his face into the pillow, and tried to ignore everything, hoping that it would just go away.

Obviously, it did not. The alarm was soon joined by his mother banging at the door and yelling for him to get up. He groaned again before replying, "Alright, alright. I'll get up." After she left, satisfied that he would not go back to sleep, he quietly added, "relax, old hag."

Lazily, he stood up and yawned. "Today's gonna be a bitch," he thought to himself. "Why the hell does school have to start so early?" He walked over to the bathroom and started to shower, hoping the water would help to awaken him. He stood under the streaming water with his head against the wall. After a few minutes, he realized that he was finally awake.

He finished showering a litter later. While getting dressed, he heard a knock on the apartment door. "It can't be that late yet." He looked at the alarm clock in his room, "Shit! He's here." He quickly finished dressing before leaving with Ken.

"You're hair's still wet, and you took a while after I knocked," Ken remarked after a few steps in the hall. "I knew you wouldn't be ready. I think the deal was ten bucks."

"No fair. You came early." Davis tried to get out of paying the bet.

"It's seven right now," Ken replied, showing Davis his watch.

"No way. You set your watch ahead, so you would win."

"You don't have any money do you?" Ken knew that Davis was trying to get out of his part of the deal even though he knew he lost.

"Not even a little." They both laughed. Ken wondered why he kept making bets even though Davis never pays. Was it pride? He would never describe his feeling as pride. The bets were so obvious that anyone who knew Davis would know that he would lose. He assumed that it was the way Davis would defend himself. He always thought it was funny.

Eventually, they reached the school. Davis stopped. He knew he would have to go in soon enough, but if he could delay it, he would have to try. Ken quite easily convinced him to enter by mentioning the reunion with the digidestined and, probably more appealing to Davis, the reunion with the many girls of Odaiba High School. Together, they walked into the building.

Ken's words quickly became truth as a group of girls immediately noticed the soccer star. Davis, standing next to him, intercepted the girls before they could reach him. Davis obviously thought that he should get these girls because Ken had Yolei. They did not care that it was him instead of Ken. He was one of the stars of the team too.Ken wanted to leave as quickly as possible. He wished that he could play soccer without having to become the center of attention. He loved soccer; he hated so much attention.

"Davis, c'mon. Let's get going." Ken felt awkward with everyone around him.

"No way. This is awesome." Davis, unlike Ken, enjoyed both soccer and being the center of attention. This was the kind of moment that he always loved. Davis did see the feeling of awkwardness in Ken's face and surrendered his own pleasure for the sake of his friend. They walked to the cafeteria, where the school placed the schedules on the first day. After finding theirs, they walked to their favorite courtyard where they saw three people already sitting.

* * *

TK's head shot straight up after the very first beep. He had set his alarm clock volume much too high. He quickly hit the top to stop it. He yawned. After the initial scare, he found time to realize he was exhausted. This was what he hated most about school, waking up early.

He stood up and yawned again, thinking about how painful waking up everyday for the next year would be. He quickly showered, changed, and headed to the living room. His mother was not in the apartment that day. She rarely was home before he left for school; sometimes she tried to get the day off when it was the first day of school, but she could not today. He was used to it. Usually, she would go into work early and stay late. It had been going on since they first moved to Odaiba. At first, he did not like it, but by now he had gotten used to it.

While thinking about his mother, he made and ate breakfast. He thought that what he made could hardly be called a meal: A few pieces of toast could not really satisfy an appetite, especially not his; however, this was all the food he had the time to eat. He noticed the oven's clock and grabbed an apple to eat on his way to school.

TK, Yolei, and Kari had always walked to school together. He met both of them on the ground just outside the building. They walked together discussing their hopes and goals for this year of school. After walking for some time, they entered the school. TK noticed that the mood of the three became suddenly darker as soon as they entered the building. He was not sure if it was his imagination or if they could honestly not make light and easy conversation within the school. Together, the three went to the schedules, found theirs, and left to go to their favorite courtyard. Upon arriving they found it was empty.

The continued to talk about anything that crossed their minds. The chat eventually became as light-hearted as it was before entering school. Obviously, school could not stop them from having a good time. TK was wondering why he had thought something this harmless could cause so much darkness. It was absurd, almost comical. He considered sharing his musings with the others, but decided against it. After what they had been through, calling school a cause of darkness was beyond laughable. The talk continued as two others entered the courtyard. They were only waiting for one person now.

* * *

Cody arrived at Odaiba High School. He looked around, checking for anyone he recognized. He did not see anybody familiar. Gathering up some courage, he entered through the doors. He had been in much more danger before, and he had handled it much more easily, but that had been a long time ago, at least by his standards it had. He was nervous as he entered, maybe even to the point of fear. He thought of it as normal. It was a new school with people he did not know; it made sense to be anxious to an extent, but he was neurotic. "Oh well," he thought to himself, "I guess I just get really nervous really easy. I guess I'll just ignore it. That's really the only thing I can do."

"OK," he started a dialogue in his head. "Luckily, they gave us our schedules earlier than the rest," he said internally, referring to the freshman as us. "I need to find my locker then meet up with everyone at some courtyard near the cafeteria." He searched the halls for his locker. He saw some of his classmates and slowly relaxed. The calming effect of his friends allowed him to ignore the small fear the school inflicted in him. He, after once again talking to himself internally, went to find the courtyard. He searched for a few minutes before finding the place. He entered and noticed that five others had already arrived.

* * *

What do you think? My first story ever. Please be nice in the reviews.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello again. Anything new you need to know this chapter? Shibuya is apparently near Odaiba. For this story, Odaiba High School and Shibuya High School are old rivals. Most of this is from Ken's perspective. Well, it's all technically third-person perspective, but you get to see into his mind a lot.

Thank you to SugarSprial for reviewing and shame on the rest of you for not.

* * *

"Hey, Cody." TK welcomed the youngest to the group. "Find everything OK?"

"It wasn't that difficult." the shorter boy replied indifferently.

TK was the only one in the group able to notice the lie through his tone. Cody had never been able to express much emotion. He was always trying to seem as though he had everything under control. TK, knowing the truth, quietly said "Cody, is it really worth it considering you're not gonna know where anything is?"

Cody looked around the room. Apparently, he was the sole person who had heard TK. TK had a way of doing that—talking quietly enough so that only one person could receive it, but they could understand perfectly even without him leaning over or whispering. The two shuffled a few feet away from the rest of the group, so Cody could pull out a map of the school, and TK could explain it without embarrassing him. Cody was self-conscious about so much even though the others had never shown any interest in judging him.

Kari had seen the two leave and wanted to make sure that nobody was tactless enough to ask them why they had left. By nobody, she had obviously meant Davis; he had the least amount of tact out of all of them. Deciding it was the safest idea, she struck up a conversation with him. She started with the first idea to pop into her head that would interest him. "So Davis, earlier you said you have a game really early this year. When is the game?"

"This week, on Friday. It's gonna rock."

She laughed, knowing Davis heard the one topic that could get him excited even in school. He was obsessed with soccer. She knew that Davis would never give a true answer to a question such as "How's the game gonna turn out?" so she was forced to ask, "How much are you going to win by?" with slight sarcasm in her voice.

"Five-nothing easy. We're gonna dominate 'em." He had never had a confidence problem, rather he has one, but the problem is having too much.

Ken, who was listening to the conversation, gave Kari the answer to the question she had actually wanted to ask. "It's supposed to be a really close game. I think that Isamu, our goalkeeper, has improved a lot since last season. He's going to be quite difficult to score on, especially with the new defensive system we're going to use."

"Like I said," Davis added, refusing to give up his position, "five-nothing easy."

Cody and TK quietly slipped back into the group hoping to that their absence was not noticed by the others. They were not sure if it was or was not, but nobody mentioned anything about it, so they decided against trying to figure out the answer.

The talk eventually drifted towards school once again. They decided, after a bit of discussion, to compare schedules. "Let's see," said TK looking over the pieces of paper, "me, Kari, and Davis all have Chem first hour." He paused to search for more similarities, "Kari, we have pretty much the same schedule. Only difference is sixth hour." They went on comparing until they heard the bell ring. Davis, Kari, and TK walked away in one direction leaving the others to go their separate ways.

"This is it," said Kari, her voice was a bit nervous.

"There's three seats in the back. Let's get those," said Davis obviously wanting to stay as far away from the teacher as possible.

TK simply yawned. He followed them to the seats without complaint. The second bell rang. "OK," TK thought to himself, "the teacher should be here any minute now. This class in going to be really boring. Where is he?"

The second after TK had finished his thought and old man walked into the room as if on cue. "Good morning class," he said in a tone that showed he hated school just as much as the students. "Welcome to 'An Introduction into General Chemistry.' Chemistry is the study of matter and its change in chemical reactions. The base unit, the atom, was first theorized by the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus and was later..."

Davis threw his head back against the chair. It was thirty seconds into the class, and he could not stay focused. It was going to be a long year.

* * *

Friday night eventually came after what seemed like a much longer time. The bright green of the grass contrasted beautifully with the intense blue of the sky. Students from both Odaiba and Shibuya high schools filled the bleachers. They talked among themselves, catching up with friends they had not seen in the summer, waiting for the game to begin. One side of the field exploded with applause as the Shibuya players entered; the other side booed their entrance. They were followed shortly after by the Odaiba players while the cheering and jeering switched sides. There was a few minutes of stretching and warm-ups before the game finally began.

Shibuya started the match passing back to their defenders. "OK," thought Ken, "stay calm. Watch them carefully. Look for a weakness." He watched Shibuya like a hawk while he stood at midfield. "There! Number fourteen." He saw a Shibuya player nearly miss a pass. "It's too late to do anything about it now, but save it for later. Fourteen might make mistakes. Just stay calm, Ken. They haven't done anything yet."

As he was thinking, Shibuya passed it to the side of the field and started attacking Odaiba's side. The defense was too quick. They cut off the middle and any chance to pass; the forward took a shot from the outside, an easy save which led to an Odaiba attack. Down near Shibuya's goal, Ken received the ball and passed to Davis; a defender shifted to the pass. Then, Davis gave it back to Ken. He shot, but his attempt was not fruitful.

"Don't get rattled," Ken said in his head. "That wasn't a good opportunity. I should've taken a few steps closer. No. I won't second guess myself. I'll get plenty of opportunities. We'll win. It won't make a difference."

The game continued without much more excitement until Ken got the ball at midfield. He looked up at the scoreboard. "Twenty-two minutes," he thought, running down the field. He saw Davis open, but decided not to pass. Number fourteen was running at him. He maneuvered around quite easily. "A few more steps. Now!" He crossed the ball to Davis who rocketed it to the net. The goalie dove, stopping the effort, but deflecting the ball to Ken a few feet in front of the goal. It was an easy score.

Every Odaiba player ran to Ken and Davis in celebration. The goal was also greeted with cheers from one side of the crowd and silence from the other. While walking to the center, Ken noticed the brilliant shades of orange and hues of pink in the sky. The sun was setting even though it seemed like moments ago the sky was bright and blue. Time flies outside of school.

Another kickoff and the game started again. Shibuya tried to run down the field immediately. They were stopped and forced to slow their game. They passed to each other looking for a hole in the Odaiba defense. It was difficult to find, but they found it and dashed into position like a well-trained army. They passed around within the penalty box, searching for an opportunity. Odaiba's defense forced them to one side. A Shibuya player took a shot that, fortunately for Odaiba, hit the crossbar. The goalkeeper quickly scrambled for the ball. He grabbed it before the offense could reach it. He dumped it as far as he could.

Odaiba endured more attacks while waiting for an opportunity of their own. Near the end of the half, they found their chance. Ken ran down the field with the ball. He noticed the positions of his teammates and his opponents. "A few feet to the left," he thought. "I can get through. Fourteen is the weak-point." He veered away from the center. With a bit of footwork, he passed fourteen. The net was in sight. It was just him and his prey. The goalie ran towards him. The angle had been eliminated. A no-look pass to Davis and an easy shot for him. Now it was two-nil. Ken noted forty-three minutes on the clock. The half ended without further incident.

The members of the crowd talked to each other during the break. They recalled the best plays. They discussed strategy. They resumed their pre-game conversations. They tried to pass time before the second half began.

"We should win this game pretty easily now," said TK. "We just need to stall for time."

"It isn't impossible to get two goals in one half," Cody responded. "We can try to get one more for security."

"Our defense is too good. They won't be able to score twice." TK paused to think before continuing, "I think we should just try to keep it far away from our zone. If we keep our forwards back, our defense will be unbeatable. If they go on the attack, we could get caught out of position."

A roar of applause defeated any chance of Cody responding. The players were coming back onto the field. The hatred of the Shibuya fans had become substantially quieter after the devastation in the first half, but Odaiba was as loud as ever.

It was Odaiba's kickoff. They took it and passed backwards. They passed around the team, waiting for the game to end. Shibuya obviously would not allow this to continue unchallenged. The attacked cause Odaiba to dump the ball as far as possible. Shibuya attacked, and Odaiba defended. The ball was kicked down field again. This half was going to be a boring one.

The few scoring opportunities for Shibuya yielded nothing. The ball, caught by Odaiba's goalkeeper, was tossed to Davis. He ran towards the other net giving Odaiba their first bit of excitement this half. The defense forced him to the side. He passed backward to Ken.

"Good." His mind was racing. "A few steps to the left. One more and..." His thoughts stopped. He was on the ground with a Shibuya defender on top of him. Davis ran over and ferociously pushed the opponent off of Ken. The two started a fight that was broken up by the officials before it could escalate to other players. It earned both the Shibuya player and Davis a red card.

The call decided that the two penalties of the fight negated each other and that the original penalty stood. Ken had a penalty kick to take. He placed it in the upper-right corner of the net. He scored again. Looking up at the clock, he noticed it was in the eighty-seventh minute. Odaiba continued stalling for the remaining time. The goal made Shibuya give up any remaining effort. The game ended without excitement or incident. There was a celebration in Odaiba that night.

* * *

Well, what did you think? Please review.

I promise next time there's going to be action unless I have to cut the chapter short. I'm going away on the 20th and want an update before then. With any luck, it shouldn't be too short.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to SugarSprial and bluethunder25 for reviewing.

SugarSprial-I'm sorry about confusing you last chapter. I've never really had any soccer experience except for Eurocup this year. It's not very big in America. This chapter has basketball in it, but hopefully, I won't do any more sports for the rest of the story.

Anyway... On with the story...

* * *

"Hi, Davis." A girl who he had never before seen was cheerfully greeting him. "You did great in the game. Congratulations." He knew she was only happy because he had won. The school would have turned on him if he lost to Shibuya.

The Odaiba celebrations had continued throughout the weekend. Davis and Ken would be welcomed into every party that weekend, and they tried to make an appearance at all of them. By Monday morning, they were exhausted. Davis could not even reply to a beautiful, female fan.

"Mmgh." He grunted at her. He wanted to say more, to give a real reply, to talk with his admirer. He loved fans, but it was not the day for talking. He grunted at Ken signifying his departure. Ken smiled back at him. He was never quite as inebriated as Davis during the parties. He knew what would happen if he did celebrate the same way as Davis. He knew school would start too soon and, unlike Davis, planned for it. Ken left in a different direction.

"Come on, Davis," TK said as Davis was approaching. "We need to get to class. You can't be late this early in the year."

Davis grunted again. This was not going to be his day.

TK responded to his wordless noise, "That's why you need to party on Friday and Saturday nights only. Leave Sunday night empty. You won't be half-dead next time."

Davis grunted again. He wondered why TK would not just be quiet. If he shut up, life would be a lot easier.

"I know what you're thinking," TK said, "but you know I'm right."

Davis did not even bother to grunt. He followed TK into their Chemistry classroom. He knew that he should pay attention. Today, they were going to start something big. He could not quite remember what it was, but he knew it was important. He realized that he needed to listen and decided to at least try.

He sat in his chair and waited for the lecture. Then, he felt a punch hit his arm. Looking over, he realized that TK had hit him; he had fallen asleep before the lecture started, and by the time his friend had woken him, it was finished. Davis tried to speak, but he was cut off by TK.

"Don't worry." TK was obviously in his head today. "I made sure I took good notes. Don't do it again, or I won't let you copy them next time. Come on, it's almost time to leave."

"Thanks." Davis was finally alert enough to make a single word. He did not sleep at all Friday or Saturday nights. Throughout Sunday, he had barely gotten three hours of rest and could not remember anything that had happened that day. Chemistry class may have been the longest continuous sleep he had since Thursday night. It was good that they did not play Shibuya everyday.

* * *

The group drifted through the school year as slowly as ever. Each day seemed to pass more slowly than the last. They would all complain about the length of school and its speed, but soon enough it was mid-January. They discovered that if they did not think about the date, time went by more quickly.

The soccer season went on with wins coming in nearly every match. Ken, Davis, and the rest of the team entered the playoffs as the fourth seed. They won the first three rounds, but lost in the finals to Shinjuku High School. After the tournament, Davis spent his time enjoying life and relaxing. Ken was able to spend more time with Yolei. They both loved soccer, but without it, life was a whole lot simpler.

The loss in the finals meant that the soccer season faded into memory. With it gone, the compliments and greetings that constantly bombarded Ken and Davis slowly declined. As time passed, a new sport took precedence in the lives of the students. Ryuu Sato and TK Takaishi had been chosen as the two new celebrities, and it was their turn to endure the overwhelming attention. They were pushed even further into the limelight with the next game being against Shibuya High School. Recently, fights had broken out between Odaiba and Shibuya students. Tensions were higher than ever. The pressure to win was also higher than ever.

"Ryuu," TK was nearly shouting while surrounded by adoring co-eds, "Let's go. We can't be late, not today."

"You're right. Let's go," Ryuu and TK pushed through the crowd. It was Thursday afternoon. Practice involved diving even more deeply into strategy. Today was a key to winning against what was considered a better team. They jogged down the hallways to reach locker room before practice started.

Their entrance was greeted by a tall, middle-aged man. He was almost entirely bald, but his hair had not yet lost its color. The top of his head was hairless, but thick, black, curly hair gathered around his ears. He was heavy-set with thick, round glasses. He had crow's-feet around his constantly squinting brown eyes. Creases were appearing near his nose and mouth. He was a math teacher in the school and the coach of the Odaiba High School basketball team.

"Alright boys, you're here. Today we're staying here" Coach Himura told the two who had just entered. "Lot's of film. We need to make sure we know everything about them."

They walked over to where the rest of the team was sitting. They greeted everyone else and sat down next to each other. The Shibuya team was amazing. They forced their opponents to the outside and refused to give up any easy scoring opportunities. The coach was searching through their defense trying to point out flaws. There were a lot less than any other team they had faced. He stopped the tape after certain plays to show Shibuya's weaknesses or create a plan of attack. He was obviously concerned with beating Shibuya's defense. Apparently, their offense was not as strong.

Odaiba's new offensive strategy involved lots of rotating. They would always be in motion, quickly passing it to each other. Everyone would have to move into open space and be ready to receive the ball. Their plan was to lure the defenders away from the center or towards a side. They wanted to establish an open path to the basket, to set up for an easy lay-up. If they could not clear a lane, the next best option would be to shoot from an open piece of court.

More time passed and the practice eventually went towards Shibuya's offense. The team had obvious offensive skills, but it lacked the amazing strategy that it had on the defensive side of the game. They could hit inside shots easily. The point guard was able to hit shots from the outside much better than anyone on Odaiba. Odaiba's defense did not have to change as drastically as the offense. TK, the point guard, had to shift forward to cut off the longer shots. The rest of the team had to play more to the inside to compensate for the greater possibility of a quick cut to the basket. Other than these minor changes, Odaiba's defense remained the same.

"Alright, boys," Coach Himura told them after the planning, "get changed. We're going to walk through the offense a few times before we run it full speed."

They entered the gym and started the drills at low speed. Gradually, the tempo of the game increased. Coach Himura corrected every mistake. Today, he demanded nothing less than perfection from his team. Near the end, the first line switched to defense. The minor changes did not affect their game. It was to adjust to the new strategy.

"Alright, boys," the coach started, "tomorrow we're facing Shibuya. It's going to be a tough game, but we can win. Statistically speaking, this game isn't very important, but I know how much you want to beat them, so make sure you get a good rest and all that crap. Here's the reality: I gave you the strategy. I know we can win this. It's just a matter of you doing it. The game is in your hands now."

* * *

TK walked into the gym and looked to the sides, seeing the Odaiba and Shibuya fans. Seeing the different colors, he noticed that the Shibuya devotees were on one side and Odaiba on the other. He took a few warm-up shots and looked around even more. He was nervous, more than usual. He could not get rid of a feeling that something bad would happen. He tried to ignore it and focus on the game, but as the start approached, he felt more and more uneasy.

The match began with Shibuya taking the ball. They set up their offense with Odaiba reacting to every move. TK forced their point guard to the outside. There were no open passing lanes. The opponent could not make his way around TK. He took a far shot, which hit the rim and was deflected to the Odaiba center. He passed it to TK, who set up the offense. The new strategy worked. Odaiba walked back down the court with the first points of the game.

Odaiba began to dominate the game. Their offense could score on demand. Their defense could shut down any scoring opportunities. The drive slowed. Odaiba's new strategy involved a lot more motion than they had ever had in any game. It was exhausting. An eleven point lead was destroyed within the last few minutes of the half.

Shibuya had the ball and a five point lead with forty-two seconds left in the first half. The point guard slowly walked towards Odaiba's basket. TK's fast hands stole the ball from the inattentive player. Before he had a chance to react, TK was down the court for an easy score.

Shibuya went on the attack again. The point guard was more careful about his offense now. After a few moves to find an opening, he passed it to the center. He shot, but Ryuu Sato stopped the effort and gave the ball to TK. He set up the offense for one last chance. There were a few passes between the team before TK was open to receive it again. He jumped up from the three point line and shot the ball. Watching it as he fell back to Earth, he saw it go perfectly through the hoop. He looked at the clock, three seconds to go. His final two baskets tied the game at the half. The teams walked into their respective locker rooms.

Odaiba entered the room to the ringing of a cell phone. Luckily, the players went in before Coach Himura, so he did not notice. TK recognized the tune as his, but knew better than to check it now.

"Alright, boys," the coach began, "we can win this. We need to slow down our offense a bit. Wait in your positions for a few seconds before running around that much. Slow the game down, so we don't get that tired that quick. Takaishi, you're responsible for telling everyone when to start moving."

TK nodded. He knew that if he could control the flow of the game, they could win. It would be close, but they could do it.

Coach Himura continued, "You need to remember some of our older plays. Takaishi, if we're getting tired, you call some of those plays. It'll throw them off balance and still give us a chance to score."

TK nodded again. Controlling the tempo of the game was the key to winning today.

"Make sure you know all the plays. After that, just relax for a few minutes."

TK walked over to his locker followed by Ryuu. TK was confronted before he could see who needed to contact him. "What's going on, man? You looked distracted during the talk."

"It's no big deal. I was just thinking about Shibuya. I was trying to see if I could remember anything—any sort of weakness." TK quickly came up with an excuse.

"You're a terrible liar. Obviously, you have something on your mind. I'm guessing that cell phone we heard was yours, and you're expecting an important call. Right?"

"You're good at this."

"I know." With that, Ryuu left, giving TK some privacy.

"But not good enough." TK quietly added after Ryuu's departure. He was not expecting any call. It was not his cell phone. He recognized the tone as the D-terminal. Everyone agreed not to send messages to the D-terminals unless it was an emergency. Ryuu was right only once: It was important.

He read the message and read it again. It was impossible. He had to tell the others, but there were too many people he could not just leave. "As soon as we start warming up," he thought, "I'll find someone and tell them. Maybe fake an injury and leave. This is way more important than Shibuya."

They walked back to the gym, with TK more than a little distracted. He saw Kari standing near the court and went over to her.

"TK," she said excitedly when she saw him, "There was a fight while you guys were in the locker room, and—"

"Listen Kari," he interrupted her, "this is important. I got a message—"

He was cut off by the coach, "Takaishi, pay attention. Quit flirting."

He heard Coach Himura but chose to ignore him, "Find the rest of the group. I'll make a distraction, and we need to leave, quick." His voice was filled with deadly seriousness.

"What's going on?" Kari instantly dropped all insignificant thoughts of basketball, fights, schools, and rivalries. This was an extremely grave matter.

"Now, Takaishi!" the coach was fuming.

TK began backing up towards the court. "Just do it. I'll tell you when we leave."

The game resumed with Odaiba taking the ball. TK stalled, giving Kari time to gather the digidestined. With the shot clock winding down, he passed to Ryuu, who scored. Shibuya restarted their attack. As the point guard took the ball near the sideline, TK shoved him to the ground intensely. A foul was called, but that was not important now. The Shibuya player got up, started yelling at TK, and countered the pushing he had received.

Noticing a Shibuya fan yelling at him, TK thought, "I really shouldn't do this, but I need to. Lucky, this place is on a hair-trigger. I'm gonna hate myself for this."

He proceeded to yell at the fan, "Say that again, bitch." With that, he shoved the spectator back on his seat.

The supporter took offense. He swung his fist at TK but missed. TK stepped back, but somebody grabbed hold of his jersey. He heard a deafening roar of noise and looked back. Every Odaiba student was running towards this side of the court. The Shibuya fan with a hold of his clothes would not let him leave. He had it ripped off his skin while trying to get away from them.

"Let's go." He yelled to Kari, who had found Davis and Ken, while running towards the exit.

Outside, the four of them ran down the streets. It was an odd sight, four teenagers running down the street in Odaiba High School colors. Two of them had no idea where they were going or why. One was equally clueless but also had the Odaiba colors painted on her face. The last one knew everything but was wearing nothing except a pair of basketball shorts.

Davis needed to know what was happening. Squeezing out one word between breaths, he asked, "TK...where...we..."

"Your place." TK responded before the question was entirely asked. Being just as exhausted, he had to pause before adding, "It's closest."

They reached the apartment building and flew up the stairs. Luckily for them, Davis lived on the second floor. They burst into his room.

"Where's your digivice?" TK asked Davis quickly.

"What's going—"

"Where is it?" TK was nearly shouting again.

"Right here." He pulled the small electronic out of his pocket.

"Great, let's go." TK grabbed Davis's hand and led him over to the computer. He held the digivice up to the screen, and with a flash of light, they were gone.

* * *

That's it for this chapter. It's a bit longer than the others, but it still doesn't have everything I wanted. Oh well, the plan was to get it done. Tomorrow, I'm going away for a week, so it will take a long time to update. With any luck, I should get some good ideas.

To everyone who's still reading, leave a review.

To everyone who isn't going to leave a review, you make me cry myself to sleep.

Also, this chapter might be the closest I come to writing three thousand words in this story. I almost want to add to this post script just to reach that mark, but I don't want to just babble on about nothing. There's only one acceptable alternative that I can think of: Write a haiku. Why is that acceptable? I have no clue.

Need three thousand words  
I'm watching my syllables  
Poetic nonsense.


	4. Chapter 4

I haven't given up yet.

Thanks to 90MMLu, the only reviewer for Ch 3.

90MMLU: I loved your review. It was detailed and gave specifics about what you liked. So encouraging.

On to apologizing profusely for taking so long to update. I lost a bunch of my free time and there was one scene that I rewrote a lot because I never liked it. Also, a lot of the fics that I really like are either taking a long time to update or stopping, and that's discouraged me. And, I've been getting a lot of ideas for one shots or other stories but not a lot for this. Enough excuses. Here's what you really came for.

* * *

"Ugh." TK and Davis groaned together. They were thrown to the ground. Hard. TK had already played half a game of basketball, got in a fight, and sprinted from the school to Davis's apartment. He did not want anymore pain or activity, but he knew that the Digital World needed him. He was shirtless and exhausted, but he could not just stop—this was too important. The two stood up and watched Kari and Ken make graceful entrances.

They found themselves at a small opening in a forest. Looking around, they noticed it was a crossroads. There was one road for each of the cardinal directions. The roads could hardly be called such. They were four directions that were clear of any undergrowth. The dirt had been compacted from travelers walking on it. The paths were obviously nothing more than heavily traveled areas of the forest. The starlight was not close to bright enough. Nothing beyond a few feet could be seen.

"TK," Kari whispered, hesitating between every word, "what's... what's going on?"

"I'm not entirely sure," he was breathing deeply, "Patamon e-mailed me and said there was an emergency. There was some sort of attack."

"Where was it? It doesn't look like anything happened. Was it far away?" Kari was quickly regaining her courage.

"Patamon didn't say. It was a short e-mail—basically, there was an attack, come to the Digital World."

"E-mail him back. We can't be much help if we're just standing in the middle of nowhere."

"Well," he paused before continuing, "I didn't bring my D-terminal or digivice. They were in my locker, and I was thinking of a way to get out of there. They never crossed my mind."

"I have mine. I'll send something to Gatomon." She pulled the device out from her pocket and started mashing buttons.

In the absence of any conversation from Kari, Ken asked "Davis do you have both of yours? We might need them. This sounds really serious."

"I have my digivice," he responded "but I didn't bring the D-terminal."

"That should be fine. You'll be able to digivolve." He paused, by now he was talking to himself, "Yeah, we won't need them right now. We can just digivolve and..." His thoughts retreated into his head.

The normal amount of oxygen had returned to their bodies. Their breathing slowed. They were thinking clearly again. Every one of them began to form different plans in their heads, trying to come up with solutions to the many problems they each tried to foresee.

"North." Kari finally announced, pointing to one of the roads.

"Let's go!" Davis started to run down a path leading the right way.

"Wait!" Kari shouted at him. "Don't!"

"What?" the annoyance in his voice was obvious. He could not wait when somewhere there was a digimon, or possibly many digimon, in trouble.

She wanted to yell at him. He sounded like he was upset even before he listened to everything she had to say. That was Davis, headstrong and stubborn. He was ready to charge into what, for all he knew, could be a deathtrap. He wanted to help others but was so reckless. One day, in her opinion, he was going to get in trouble for it. She wanted to scream but knew that they could not fight afford to fight each other, so she settled for a harsh glare.

"Gatomon said there was more than on of them. She never really said what 'they' were, but there's more than one, and they're right down that path. Don't run down there without Veemon!" Her voice was calming and slowing. "I told Gatomon to wait for us in the forest, west of wherever they were. We should be able to not be seen."

"That's all?" Davis asked, and Kari nodded. "Then, let's go." He started once again to run towards the trouble.

"Davis!" TK yelled, "Stop!"

"What, now?" He was clearly upset.

"Running into a forest when it's so dark you can't see anything is not a good idea. Just calm down. We can walk there."

Davis was upset with the other digidestined but reluctantly agreed. He expected the enemy to be too tough for him to handle on his own, especially considering he did not know where Veemon was or how long it would take to reach him. He followed even though he thought that they were wrong. He would not, however, remain silent about his dissent.

"OK, just tell me this: Why the hell are we going so slow when there's digimon in trouble?"

TK was the first to respond to his complaints, "It's a thick forest at night. We can't really go much faster."

"Yeah," Kari added "and we don't want to be seen."

"How can you even say that?" Davis was getting more upset by the second. "Every second we wait a digimon could be getting hurt!"

"You can't help anyone if you're dead!" TK was starting to yell again.

"Be quiet!" Ken began shouting too. "We don't need to fight each other! Just calm down and get going!"

The others were silenced by Ken's outburst. He rarely raised his voice. This had to be serious. Above all other impressions, they knew he was right. They could not fight each other at a time like this. They had more important things to do than fight. The four walked on, continuing northward until they had finally found Gatomon hiding in the trees with Patamon next to her.

"Gatomon," Kari was bursting with joy as Gatomon leapt into her arms, "what's going on here?"

"Keep your voice down," Gatomon whispered in response. "They're not far away." She paused to listen for any sign that they had been detected before continuing, "Somehow, some humans got into the Digital World. They're shooting some sort of arrows at the digimon. Once they're shot they can delete the digimon whenever they want."

"But it just gets sent back to Primary Village, right?" Davis asked, now that he could get information, he found it much more important than rushing into save everything.

"No." Patamon sighed. "They can actually delete data whenever they want. They need to shoot something, but after that, they can make it permanent."

There was a long pause anybody dared to speak again. None of their digimon had ever been in this much danger. Nobody wanted to volunteer their own body, much less their partner's, for what could be death. The silence was eventually broken by Davis.

"Where's Veemon?"

"Wormmon's missing too," Ken added.

"There was more than one attack. We split up into groups. Everyone else is at the places." Gatomon explained to the two boys.

"Well, we're kinda useless for this," Davis said sounding defeated.

"Then it's up to us two." Patamon had an aggressive look on his face.

"No, it's not." TK's voice was also very meek. "You e-mailed me when I was busy, and I couldn't get it before we came here."

"That almost explains the shirtlessness," Gatomon quietly joked, drawing a laugh from Patamon before he turned back to TK and became serious again.

"I'll still fight. A few boom bubbles, and they'll go down easy."

"No!" TK could not control his outburst. "You can't fight, not as a rookie. You might—" He was not able to finish the sentence. It was as if just saying death made the possibility more realistic.

"C'mon. That's never stopped us before. In your world, we were in just as much danger." Patamon was determined to help. He would risk his body more quickly than anyone else. He cared about everyone too much to stay out of a battle. Sacrifice was a part of his nature. He would rather be the lowest than see somebody lower than him.

"No. You're a rookie. You're too small." TK, on the other hand, did not want his partner to risk it.

"I'm not too small. It's harder to hit me. Gatomon actually has the disadvantage. Besides, remember the first time you were here. You hated when they said you were too small."

TK looked around for help from the others. "You're not going to give up, are you? Fine. Do it. Just be careful." He paused and sighed. "Let's get going." His eyes scanned the group, looking at everyone's faces for confirmation that they were ready.

They were. With that, the four humans and two digimon left to find the humans that were causing trouble in the Digital World. They walked slowly through the dense forest, partly to avoid tripping over the plants and partly because they nervous about encountering the foes. The small steps gradually inched them closer and closer to the enemies.

"I can see them up there." Davis whispered, pointing ahead and slightly to the left. He saw a fire near a group of three people through the trees. They were too far away to see in detail. From here, they were nothing more than shadowy outlines.

"Ken, Davis, stay here." TK whispered back, watching the tiny figures move around in the distance. "Kari, Patamon, Gatomon, let's head up there." He started to leave with Patamon on his head, and Kari not moving from her stop.

"TK," Kari whispered harshly to make him stop, "You and Patamon shouldn't go. You don't have your digivice with you. It'd be a big mistake."

"I'm not letting you go there alone."

Kari knew she had no chance of convincing him otherwise. Defeated, she followed him. They walked slowly together to the source of whatever had brought them to the Digital World.

As the two were leaving, Davis leaned over to Ken and, whispering, asked "Are we really gonna let them go alone?"

"No," came the response from the other boy, "but they won't want us following. Just give them a little head start, so we can follow without them noticing."

"You're a smart man, Ichijouji," Davis whispered back as the two shared a chuckle.'

* * *

"Go back and prepare to attack the next spot." A deep voice coming from one the figures shouted commands at the other two. The three stood around a fire they had made in a forest clearing with digimon standing calmly behind in submission. The opening in the trees did not seem natural. It had the appearance of a recent battle. The trees were broken in their trunks. Scorch marks surrounded the area and could be seen on the dirt.

Two of the people left with six digimon following them, leaving only two to assist the apparent leader. The tallest person, who was giving the orders earlier, turned around to survey the landscape. This was his. He looked at the trees. He could make something worthwhile out of this forest.

TK and Kari waited in the forest watching the people and the digimon leave. They could barely see the outlines of the shadows walking away, but their footsteps could still be clearly heard.

"Wait for a while after you can't hear them anymore." TK whispered even more quietly than earlier. His voice was barely audible. "Me and Patamon will go first. We'll try to get him to face the other way. Then, you go."

She nodded, and they waited quietly together, not moving. They could not risk making any noise. If the guy by the fire noticed them, it would ruin the plan. They had no clue how hard of a battle this would be. They thought it could be over in a few seconds or last for hours. Why risk losing the element of surprise?

The two heard the sound of a twig breaking behind them. Kari's head instantly turned towards TK's direction. He was already looking for the source of the noise. Her eyes kept darting from the sound behind to TK to the fire and the person in front. Her mind was racing, "Was it the two that left? What if they came back? We can't take on three. We're surrounded." Every fiber of her wanted to scream for help, but she knew she it was worthless. Nobody was around except the guy they wanted to attack.

There were more steps. They were getting louder. Whatever was back there was coming closer. She forgot about the person near the fire. She turned around giving whatever was approaching her full attention. "There!" her mind was screaming. "Two shadows. They're human. It's them!" She let out a earsplitting shriek. The two started running at TK and Kari. "Shit!" everything except her head was frozen in fear, "now they're sure we're here." She looked at TK, and saw his head darting back and forth. The guy by the fire heard the scream and was sprinting towards them.

TK rushed to Kari's side with bushes tripping him nearly every hasty step. He barely made it there. His arm quickly extended, a punch to the face of the assailant who immediately screamed. He recognized that voice. He was instantly about-face. This was the true enemy.

"Kari, stop screaming." She recognized the calmness in that voice. Ken was calming her down, reassuring her that they were not evil. "We followed you guys. I guess it was—"

"Not now, Ken." She could hear Davis too. It was him who TK had hit, he was the one who screamed. The overwhelming joy of seeing her friends almost made her forget the still evil, still attacking person. She had her strength back again.

TK stood between his friends and the attacker. He was being flanked by two digimon, TK was not able to tell what they were, maybe a horse and a smaller horse. It was dark and the fire was behind those three, they were in complete silhouette. TK looked around for some sort of help—there was no way he could face a person and two digimon by himself. Patamon was flying next to his shoulder, but the others were still over by Kari. They were too far away to help him.

"You," the tall, shadowy figure yelled, "get him!"

The larger of the two creatures stumbled forward. The forest was obviously too dense for such a large digimon. It was slow, but the bushes were being horribly bent, its lack of speed in the trees was made up for by its sheer strength. TK could hear Patamon screaming attacks, but they were all futile. This beast was too powerful.

TK knew he needed to run. He wanted to get out of there but was frozen in fear. He heard the footsteps becoming closer and closer. He saw the silhouette becoming larger and larger. The digimon's front two feet lifted off the ground. They shot at TK. He flew backwards, his chest exploding with pain. It was too excruciating to scream.

Ken and Davis rushed to the aid of their friend. They slammed into the side of the horse-like creature, toppling it. It recovered quickly, but their goal was accomplished—TK was safe, at least for a few seconds.

"Gatomon," Kari was running towards the three, "it's our turn now."

"Right." A quick reply came from the cat digimon before transforming into an angel.

"You," the assailant was yelling again, "after those two." The smaller, more agile digimon started a graceful run to Ken and Davis.

"Run!" TK was finally able to gather enough strength to shout at his friends. Ken obeyed immediately, dragging Davis with him. He did not want to abandon TK and Kari, but the last time he refused to listen to them, it started this entire nightmare.

The larger bucked his front feet in the air again. They came slamming towards TK only to be caught by Angewomon. She harshly threw the creature away from the group. A black arrow whizzed past her, sucking the little amount of light out of the surrounding air. TK, Patamon, Kari, and Angewomon darted their heads in the direction of the human. There was another arrow on his bowstring. It flew past Angewomon again.

She held her finger forward. The Celestial Arrow was forming as the Dark Arrow was being prepared. The two looked at each other. This was the end for one. Both launched with a blinding flash. The shadowy human was hit. Light was poring out of his waist. The Celestial Arrow hit his digivice. He faded from the Digital World.

The horse digimon rose to his feet. "Thank you." He struggled for more words but could not find anything else.

"You jumped in front of his arrow. You risked your life for me." Angewomon was the only one to notice where the other arrow had went.

"I was already hit by one. It wouldn't make a difference. Besides, you guys are our last hope. We need you a lot more than we need me. I'm Equmon by the way."

"You may be one of the bravest digimon I know." TK, lying on the ground, was in awe by this great beast. Fighting it seconds ago, he was now ready to call it a hero.

"Hello all." Davis's voice rang out above everyone else. He, Ken, and the smaller of the two formerly opponent digimon were calmly walking. "As soon as we were far enough away from the fight Cervusmon stopped attacking and explained everything."

TK looked over at the three and realized that Cervusmon was a deer, not a smaller horse. He fixed his eyes back on Equmon, "Just one question," he began, "if you were on our side all along, why did you kick me so hard?"

The horse looked back at him and chuckled, "That was a gentle kick. I'm a bit offended that you think I'm that weak."

The eight looked around at each other and shared a long laugh.

* * *

The scene I was referring to that took a lot of rewrites was "The two heard the sound of a twig breaking behind them." and everything after. I hated it so many times. Hopefully, this one isn't too bad.

I might work on some of those one shots I was talking about earlier, and I still don't have much free time. You should expect longer times for updates. Sorry.

**Please review.**

To everyone who is going to review. All I've had so far is extremely positive reviews, and I love that. I love that you like my story, but part of the reason I'm publishing this is to become a better writer. If you have any suggestions or think something could be better, tell me, just don't be harsh about it.  
**  
Please review.**


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